


The Most Dangerous Lies (Are the Lies You Tell Yourself)

by eriah211



Category: Primeval
Genre: Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Fix-It, Light Angst, M/M, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Nobody is Dead, Pre-Slash, Relationship Issues, Season/Series 02, Season/Series 03, Slash, Team Dynamics, Team as Family
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-03
Updated: 2019-08-03
Packaged: 2020-07-30 13:55:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 10,688
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20098294
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/eriah211/pseuds/eriah211
Summary: Big fix-it for season 2. Set in episode 2x06, right after Nick punched Stephen and he walked away. What if just one little thing had been different? What if everybody had listened, and talked to each other.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you very much to the wonderful fredbassett for the beta, all remaining mistakes are mine. Written for goldarrow as a very, very late fandom stocking gift. Previously posted on livejournal.

He had forgotten the fucking car keys, just when all he wanted to do was drive away and leave the ARC behind.

Stephen hadn’t realised until he had already reached his car, too caught up in the harsh words he had just exchanged with Nick. He leaned back on the car door and cursed loudly. He had planned to go home and talk to Helen, but now he would have to go back inside to get the keys if he wanted to drive back home and he was definitely not in the mood to cross paths with Nick, or anybody, for that matter.

Stephen took a deep breath and considered his options for a moment. None of them were particularly good so he finally decided to go for a walk around the park surrounding the ARC to clear his head before going back inside for the keys. It would be a good way to regain his calm and also to avoid people for the moment.

He walked for a while, but soon found a nice spot in the shade of an old tree and decided to sit down to think. His cheek hurt from Nick’s punch, but it wasn’t the only thing that was making him feel worse than he had felt in years.

Every time he recalled that moment and the words he had spat at Nick, something twisted painfully inside of him. The plan to go to talk to Nick had been a disaster, and if he had to be completely honest with himself, Nick wasn’t the only one to blame for that.

Stephen saw Nick’s car leaving the ARC and as far as he could tell from afar, it looked like Connor and Abby were going with him. Maybe there was another anomaly alert, Stephen thought. And they were going to deal with it on their own again. Another pang of guilt hit Stephen, but he pushed it away. They were going to have to do it that way from now on, anyway, since he very much doubted there was a place in the team for him now.

Stephen stood up, brushing the dirt off his jeans. He would go back for his keys and to empty his locker. There was no reason for him to stick around, after all. Helen was right, they shouldn’t keep this secret from the public and he couldn’t be part of this cover-up any longer.  
Stephen stood there, looking at the ARC building for a while. He had taken a decision, he just had to walk back to the ARC, but somehow he just couldn’t get himself to do it, not yet.

Another walk around the park sounded like a good idea, he thought. This time to gather up the courage to quit the most incredible job he imagined he could ever have. He would send a fuck-you-I’m-leaving email to Lester the next day and he could say goodbye to Connor and Abby some other day, if they still talked to him after everything that had happened.

***  
It was late when Stephen finally felt like going back inside the ARC. He had seen other cars leave the building, probably people going home after calling it a day, so the place was going to be as empty as it would ever be.

When he walked inside, he saw the hall was in fact very quiet. Nobody was still working there, but the lights on the first floor let him know that Lester was still in his office and Stephen certainly didn’t want to meet the man right now.

He walked straight to the locker room, fortunately without meeting anybody who might ask uncomfortable questions, and opened his locker to find the car keys on the top shelf. With a sigh of relief, he put them in his pocket and immediately started putting the few belongings he stored there in his backpack.

Soon, all that was left inside his locker was a picture of the team that Abby had playfully taped to his door one day. Everybody in that photograph was looking at the camera with a smile on their faces, a sign of better times. If he recalled it correctly, it had been taken after one of their first missions together and even the stoic Captain Ryan was showing a hint of a smile.

Stephen wondered if he should say goodbye to the man too. The soldier was still off duty, recovering from the serious injuries he had suffered in the Permian, but surely he had heard about what was going on between him and Nick. Stephen had grown to respect Ryan greatly and didn’t doubt for a minute he was doing an honest job protecting the civilians and everybody involved, but he wasn’t sure the soldier would want to hear his side of the story. His temporary replacement, Captain Becker, was nice and professional, but Stephen still hadn’t really had the chance to get to know him very well.

Stephen took the photo and put it in the pocket of his backpack with sadness. He was going to miss much more than the excitement of the anomalies, he was going to miss good people and he hated it.

Slamming the door of his locker shut, he turned to go, when he heard the noise of something falling nearby. Everything was so quiet that the sound had startled him, but surely there was somebody still on duty in the ARC, maybe even one of the soldiers he knew, and he wondered if he should go to find them and say goodbye or just leave without looking back.

He was still making up his mind as he walked out of the locker room when a sudden movement at the end of the corridor caught his attention. He barely stopped himself from swearing out loud, but he knew too well that he couldn’t make any noise if he wanted to survive.

A future predator was clinging from the ceiling lamps in the corridor, turning its hairless head as it tried to find the source of the noise it had just heard.

Moving as slowly as he could, without tearing his eyes away from the terrifying creature, Stephen opened slowly the door of the locker room to get back inside. There were no guns there, all of them had been stored back in the armoury earlier, but he could try to barricade himself inside and call for help.

Then the metal buckles of his backpack hit the doorframe with a clinking noise.

Stephen saw the creature turn its head in his direction and knew his chances had been ruined.


	2. Chapter 2

The rattle of a machine gun woke Stephen up and for a moment he didn’t have a clue where he was or what had happened, but he knew for sure that something was very wrong.

As his eyes focussed on the furniture that was almost crushing him, he started remembering everything. He had closed the door of the locker room behind him, but without the chance of blocking it, that had simply given him a few seconds before the predator had bust the door open.

Stephen had run, trying to find a place where he could hide even if he knew the chances of that working were close to zero. He had soon been cornered by the creature and had believed he was seconds away from a very painful death, but somehow, luck had been on his side.

In its haste to catch Stephen, the future predator had jumped from one set of lockers to another with so much strength that they had been knocked over and a few of them had fallen on him, hitting him on the head and knocking him unconscious, which explained the splitting headache and the blood he felt slowly oozing down the side of his face.

A sturdy bench had stopped the lockers from crushing Stephen completely, leaving enough space for him to be safe while at the same time hiding him from the creature, but it was surprising that the predator had given up the hunt so easily. Maybe the sound of the lockers falling over had disoriented the creature enough to make it lose track of Stephen or maybe it simply hadn’t been that interested.

Not wanting to see if the creature was more interested now, Stephen took his time to listen carefully before making any move.

Everything seemed quiet in the locker room, but he could hear the sound of more shooting coming from somewhere inside the building. That meant somebody in the ARC was fighting back and Stephen could definitely use their help to get out of there alive.

He crawled slowly from under the lockers and was relieved to see there was no sign of any predator around. Carefully, he walked towards the broken door, which was barely hanging on by its hinges, and took a look at the situation outside the room.

The corridor seemed empty, but there were angry voices coming from the atrium.

Stephen considered for a moment his chances of getting to the armoury and finding a gun, but the place was most probably locked and he didn’t even know how many creatures were loose in the ARC. Alone and unarmed, if he was attacked by another predator, he didn’t expect to be so lucky again.

On the other hand, even though he knew there had to be at least one future predator in the atrium, there was also somebody armed in there and it was just a few metres away.

Looking closely for any sign of danger, he started walking towards the voices, as fast as he dared while trying not to make any noise.  
Soon he reached the doors to the atrium and could take a look at what was happening there through the glass windows. Stephen was surprised to discover that the voices he had heard belonged to a bloodied and scared-looking Lester and to Leek, whose face was disturbingly showing in every screen of the ADD.

“Leek! You're never going to make me beg for my life so let's just end it now,” Lester was saying.

“All right, if you insist,” Leek replied nonchalantly. “Goodbye, James.”

The sound of aggressive snarls echoed in the atrium and Stephen finally saw the future predator, perched on the ceiling and ready to attack.

“One more thing,” Lester added.

“Yes?”

“You really are a tiresome little man.”

Still not understanding what was going on, Stephen watched in horror as the predator jumped towards Lester. The man stood there proudly, not trying to run away, and closed his eyes seemingly accepting his impending death.

Suddenly, the big shape of the mammoth came into view, as it walked to stand right in front of Lester. The predator didn’t stand a chance. With a swift movement of its huge head, the mammoth speared it with ease and its body was left hanging from the big tusk like a rag doll.

Stephen heard the victorious trumpet of the creature as he slowly opened the corridor doors. The mammoth was walking around the atrium calmly, seemingly not sensing any other danger around, and Stephen saw Leek’s face twist into a hateful grimace for a second before all the screens went black at the same time.

As he walked carefully forward, Stephen saw Lester was fine, shaken but alive.

“Good boy. Good mammoth,” Lester said, bending over as he tried to regain his breath.

A few seconds later Lester finally noticed there was somebody walking towards him.

“Stephen?” Lester asked in surprise.  
***

Although he repeatedly claimed to be fine, Stephen was examined in the infirmary by a very stubborn doctor. After stitching the cut on Stephen’s temple, the man insisted on doing a thorough full check.

While he waited for the last tests to be done, Stephen took occasional glances at Lester, who was being treated nearby. The man had regained his composure and Stephen could see he was annoying the doctor with his usual sarcasm. Not a very smart attitude towards somebody who was going to have to sew the slashes on his chest later, as Lester eventually learnt.

Stephen was given the usual recommendations after a head injury like his and was finally cleared to go. He was putting on his jacket when he caught Lester staring at him with an unreadable expression on his face.

The man was putting on a pristine pink shirt to replace the one that had been shredded by the predator and had also managed to get a matching tie for it. Half-dressed and with his hair dishevelled, he looked younger than usual, and slightly vulnerable.

Stephen was wondering if he should talk to Lester and ask about what had happened, when Nick walked in the infirmary. The surprised look on his face when he found Stephen there told him that Nick hadn’t come to check on him.

“Are you … OK?” Nick asked, hesitantly.

Stephen barely managed to bite down the retort that came to his mind. The situation was uncomfortable for both of them, but there was no point in making things even worse. He just wished he had realised that sooner so they could have avoided the ugly scene in the lab earlier.

“I was lucky,” he said simply.

Unfortunately, as they had learnt when the cavalry had arrived shortly after the death of the future predator, some others hadn’t been so lucky. While checking the whole place for more threats, Becker and his men had found out that a soldier and a lab technician who had been working late had been killed by the creature before it had attacked Stephen and Lester.

Nick stood there awkwardly, clearly not knowing what else to say, and Stephen wished he could get out of the infirmary without looking like he was running away.

“Cutter, a word?” Lester asked, somehow not making it sound like a question at all.

The man was buttoning up his shirt and his usual arrogance was showing on his face as he walked towards them.

Stephen watched them walk out of the infirmary, discussing the latest events and he waited a bit longer before putting his jacket on and following their path.

All he wanted was to go home, but even if he had been cleared by the doctor, he still had to give a full statement about what had happened before he could walk out of that place. Fortunately, Jenny offered to take the statement herself and make it quick and easy.

“I’m sure a summary will be enough for now, Stephen,” she said, smiling kindly as he took a seat by her desk. “You probably should be resting right now.”

Stephen smiled gratefully at her and started from the beginning.

***

Even though he omitted the real reason why he had waited outside the ARC for a while, claiming simply that he had wanted to clear his head, Stephen tried to give Jenny as many details as he could recall. All things considered, it didn’t take them too long and soon the statement was finished.

“Just a signature here, please, and you can finally go home,” Jenny said as she apologetically handed him a standard form.

After he had signed the paper, Stephen was about to ask Jenny about Leek and the predator, hoping he could get some information from her, when Nick’s shout startled them both.

“It's a bomb. Everybody get out now!”

Nick was standing next to a white van that was parked in the middle of the atrium and the people that had gathered around the ADD were looking at him with surprise.

“What?” Abby asked, looking confused.

“Get out!” Nick yelled again.

That finally got people moving. Jenny followed Stephen towards the exit and soon they had joined the rest of the ARC staff outside, on the far side of the car park.

It took Stephen a while to realise that not everybody had got out, though. Nick and Connor weren’t there and he had the feeling that they were doing something very dangerous.

Stephen walked towards Abby to see if she knew anything about them and her answer didn’t really surprise him.

“Leek has planted a bomb in the ARC,” she said, clearly worried. “Cutter asked Connor to stay behind with him, to deactivate it, I suppose. It’s a stupid idea!”

Stephen couldn’t agree more. It was stupid and very dangerous, and he realised with sadness that not too long ago Nick would have called for him to stay by his side in that stupid and dangerous situation. Now he was going to have to stay outside, crossing his fingers and waiting for his friends to get out of there alive.

They heard Becker order his men to stay put and keep anybody else from getting inside the building and then the young captain ran back to the ARC himself. There was no point on more people risking their lives, Stephen understood, but he still would have liked to help.

He wasn’t the only one feeling that way, Stephen realised when Abby grabbed his hand nervously. He squeezed it reassuringly and they hold on to each other as they waited side by side.

Not far away from them, Jenny and Lester were already on the phone, talking to somebody, no doubt emergency services and backup and they both looked very upset. It wasn’t the first time Stephen had seen that expression on Jenny’s face, but seeing Lester actually worried about the safety of the members of the team was something new. Stephen would have sworn he was a heartless pen pusher, but it looked like he had been wrong about that.

After what felt like ages, Nick, Connor and Becker walked out of the building and told them the bomb had been deactivated, and Stephen finally let out the breath he had been holding.

Abby finally stopped crushing his hand and ran towards Connor and not long after, Nick was cornered by Jenny and Lester, who were probably asking too many questions for the grumpy Scotsman’s liking. Stephen, though, couldn’t get himself to walk towards them.

As he saw the staff walk into the building again, Stephen decided it was time to go home.

One of the soldiers, who had finished his shift some time ago, offered to drive Stephen’s car for him and take him home since he lived nearby himself. Stephen wasn’t supposed to drive yet because of his head injury, so he accepted gratefully. On the way home, the soldier filled Stephen in on the events of the day and he finally learnt everything about Leek’s betrayal. He would have never believed it, but he had seen it with his own eyes. It looked like he had been blaming the wrong man all along.

When Stephen got home, exhausted physically and mentally, he found the flat was empty, Helen nowhere to be seen. He felt relieved. There were many questions he needed to ask her, but he was too tired for that now.

Stephen took a quick shower, dropped onto the bed and was fast asleep in seconds.


	3. Chapter 3

When Stephen woke up the next morning, his whole body ached.

He took a long, hot shower to soothe his muscles and then took his time to check his injuries in the bathroom mirror. There was a big purple bruise over his shoulder from his fall and another ugly bruise surrounding the cut on his temple that made the one caused by Nick’s punch look ridiculously insignificant.

The cut was healing nicely, and his head didn’t even hurt, but his mind was still reeling from the nasty surprises of the day before. Leek was the traitor, who would have thought it would be him? Stephen had been so sure it was Lester; Helen had been so sure about it, too. Then Stephen realised he had never connected the dots himself; Helen had pointed him in that direction and he had accepted it as the most valid answer, because it made so much sense.

Helen wouldn’t have lied to him, wouldn’t she? Stephen thought as he carefully dried his hair. She had probably been fooled by Leek, like everybody else, he rationalised, trying to push the doubt away.

Staring at the haunted look in his reflection’s eyes, Stephen realised he couldn’t be sure about that any longer. Helen had always been smart and manipulative, but he couldn’t believe she would endanger people like that. He didn’t want to believe it.

As he put on some clothes, Stephen thought about the letter of resignation he had decided to send to Lester the day before. Even though the decision had seemed so right yesterday, he wasn’t so sure now.

He was having breakfast, still trying to work out what he to do next, when he got a call from Lester.

“Listen, Stephen this is no time for sulking. People are dying... right now and many more will die unless you do something,” Lester said, hastily. “Look... Look we need you. There's been an attack at a beach. We think it's a Silurian Scorpion. I can't get hold of Cutter.”

The man sounded worried, even frantic, and just one day ago Stephen would have dismissed it as Lester just been worried about the press or keeping his job, but now he found himself wondering if he been judging Lester too harshly.

“All right, tell me where it is,” Stephen replied.

Lester’s sigh of relief was audible down the phone.

“You're going to need backup,” he added.

“There’s no need,” Stephen protested. “I can do it alo-“

“We’ve lost enough people already, Stephen,” Lester cut in, drily. “I’m not sending you there alone, a special forces team will meet you at the beach. At least they can protect the civilians and watch your back while you deal with the creature.”

“All right,” Stephen accepted grudgingly.

***

In the end, capturing the scorpion wasn’t too hard, but Stephen was grateful for the soldiers being there to keep the swimmers and others off the beach while he set the trap for the creature.

As he was getting ready to go, leaving the soldiers in charge of sedating and transporting the scorpion to the ARC menagerie, he called to let Lester know the job was done.

“The soldiers will bring it to the ARC as soon as possible,” Stephen told him. “I haven’t seen any trace of an anomaly in the area, everything looks calm here now.”

“There wasn’t any anomaly, Stephen. Leek called a few minutes ago. He released the creature in a crowded area on purpose.”

“What? Why?” Stephen said, horrified. Innocent people had died and it had all been planned?

“He wants us to stop looking for him,” Lester replied. “He said he has a dozen creatures in similar locations and threatens to release them as well if we don’t stop the search.”

“Well, then… maybe we should-“

“He has Cutter and the others, Stephen,” Lester continued. “He said they’re safe for now, but I don’t trust that miserable, petty man to keep his word for long. We have to find them.”

Stephen froze. He remembered Leek’s expression of satisfaction on the screens as he was about to see Lester die in front of him and felt nauseous.

“He has Nick…” Stephen repeated. “Connor and Abby too?”

“Yes, they’re missing and Jenny too,” Lester confirmed. “Listen, I have every available person out there looking for Leek and for those creatures, we’ll find something soon.”

Lester sounded worried and tired and Stephen wondered if the man had even had the chance to go home at all after his encounter with the future predator last night.

“What can I do?”

“Just… just be careful, Stephen. We don’t know where he could strike next,” Lester replied. “I’ll call you when we get more news.”

Stephen put his phone back in his pocket and looked at the beach, wondering how many people had been there when Leek had released the scorpion. Becker had confirmed there had been casualties, but they still didn’t know how many because the terrified witnesses had scattered as they ran away and the police was still trying to check if the people who were missing were dead or alive.

Stephen thought about what other public places Leek could be targeting. A shopping centre? A football stadium? There was no way they could react fast enough to avoid more innocent deaths if Leek decided to let another creature loose.

He had been standing on the shore for a while, lost in those dark thoughts, when his phone rang. He took it out, hoping for good news from Lester, but the name on the screen wasn’t the one he had expected.

“Helen?” he answered.

“Stephen, listen, there isn't much time. Lester kidnapped me. I got away but I need you to come and get me.”

“Kidnapped?” Stephen replied, confused.

“Nick and the others are dead…”

Stephen fell to his knees. They hadn’t been fast enough, he thought, anguished, Leek had killed them after all.

“… Lester had them killed. Stephen... Listen. Stephen, listen. Lester's gonna call you,” she added in a hurry. “Whatever he says it's a trap. I'm going to tell you where I am and then I want you to throw your mobile away. They can trace you with it.”

Shocked by those words, Stephen listened as she gave him the address and then hung up.

Still on his knees on the sand, he stared at his phone for a moment, his mind racing. Then he stood up, straightening his back, and dialled the ARC’s number.

***

Even though Lester asked him not to, Stephen went with the SF team to the address provided by Helen, but the soldiers ended up doing all the work.

When they got there, they saw that Jenny and the others had already escaped and were calling the ARC for help. The soldiers, warned about the dangerous creatures that Leek and Helen had in the building, rushed inside to save Nick, but they wouldn’t let Stephen go with them.

He followed Becker’s orders to stay put for a while, the time it took him to make sure his friends were OK, a bit shaken, but in one piece. After Helen’s words (Helen’s lies, his mind corrected), he had almost lost all hope of seeing them alive again.

Then, as soon as the soldiers who were guarding the exits turned their heads around for a moment, Stephen ran inside the building. When he found Nick, though, the situation was already under control. Nick was simply a bit battered and the soldiers had blocked half of the building to make sure the creatures were contained inside. Unfortunately for everybody, though, Helen had managed to run away again.

Not wasting time in niceties, Becker got the civilians shoved into the vehicles and in their way to the ARC as soon as possible and so Stephen found himself sharing the ride with Abby and Connor, who shakily told him what had happened while they had been captured.

“Helen had been working with Leek all along?” Stephen asked in disbelief.

He had started to suspect it, but having it confirmed stung hard, especially after learning that she had threatened to kill his friends in cold blood.

“Do you really think Leek could have found out how to control a future predator on his own?” Abby replied bitterly. “I know you don’t want to hear it, Stephen, but right now I don’t really care,” she added, looking at him with tired eyes. “Helen doesn’t care about the creatures, she doesn’t care about the truth and she certainly doesn’t care about you!”

The rest of the trip to the ARC was spent in an awkward silence, which left Stephen time to be alone with his thoughts. Not many of them were nice, unfortunately.

When they arrived at the ARC, Stephen was left alone in the middle of the atrium while the others were ushered to the infirmary for a quick check and he simply stood there for a while, feeling a bit lost.

“I’m glad to see everybody made it back in one piece.” Lester’s voice startled him.

When he turned around he saw that Lester looked relieved, yes, but also very tired. Stephen noticed the man was wearing the same pink shirt and tie he had been wearing the night before and felt a surprising pang of guilt.

“Haven’t you gone home at all?” Stephen asked before he could stop himself.

He blamed tiredness for that slip. It wasn’t his business if the man looked dead on his feet.

Lester was taken aback by the question for a moment, but he recovered quickly.

“There were a lot of things to do, especially when most of my team was missing, Hart.”

So they were back to ‘Hart’, Stephen noticed.

“But I think it’s time to finally call it a day,” Lester added. “As soon as everybody is cleared by the medical team, you all are free to go. Reports can wait a few hours since I assume it’ll take a while to forget the details of what’s happened.”

“I know I won’t,” Nick said as he walked towards them, probably having ditched the doctor at the first chance he got. “Your report will be very detailed, Lester, don’t worry about that.”

“Good, I’ll anxiously await reading it then,” Lester replied. “Now, gentlemen, if you could do me, and the rest of the ARC, just one more favour and talk about your issues, instead of behaving like teenagers,” he added, glaring at them lightly, “we would all be very grateful.”  
Not waiting for an answer, Lester turned around and walked back to his office.

Nick and Stephen stood in silence for a moment, both of them looking uncomfortable and embarrassed.

“I’m really sorry I hit you yesterday,” Nick began. “I shouldn’t have reacted that way. Never tell Lester this, but I think he’s right, we should sit down and talk. A drink?”

“That would be great,” Stephen accepted.

They changed into clean clothes and then walked out of the ARC together, ready to try to fix their friendship over some beers.


	4. Chapter 4

They talked and drank a lot of beer and by the end of the night Stephen felt they had finally found a way to leave the past behind, or at least a way to start working on that. He knew that restoring the friendship they had once shared was something that couldn’t be achieved in just a few hours, but now, at least, Nick was able to look at him without hurt and anger being written all over his face.

Life went on.

Helen vanished off the radar, anomalies kept appearing and causing havoc and Stephen kept working in the ARC because he realised that was where he really wanted to be.

Things were slightly awkward for a while with Nick, no matter how ‘settled’ their dispute was supposed to be, but they soon got back to working as a team the way they used to do before. That was a relief not only for Abby and Connor, who had suffered the fallout first hand, but also for Jenny and even, Stephen would say, for Lester.

Stephen had noticed that Lester had been keeping a close eye on both of them lately and had lowered the sarcasm level when talking to them, probably in an attempt to keep things civil. He had even made attempts at small talk with Stephen when he had gone into his office to give him the latest mission reports.

It had been a shock at first, but soon Stephen had found himself looking forward to those little chats with Lester. On some days, when it was late and there was barely anybody else around, Stephen would make up one excuse or another to go to Lester’s office and would spend some time talking about their work or the newest discoveries.

In the field, Jenny had been the one keeping a close eye on them at first and later, Captain Ryan, once he came back to the team after a long and thankfully full recovery. Stephen was happy to have him back, the man was competent and quiet and he probably knew how to deal with Nick better than anybody.

Lester pulled some strings and Captain Becker stayed to be the head of a second special forces team. Considering the amount of anomaly alerts they had been responding to lately, it had been a smart decision and Stephen said so to Lester on one of those times they were alone in his office after a busy day.

“Surprisingly, sometimes even the minister can take smart decisions,” Lester said. “We shouldn’t get used to it, though.”

Stephen laughed lightly. “We should be thankful that at least they got this one right then.”

“Grateful for small mercies, as they say,” Lester agreed. “They were so worried about the anomalies becoming public after Leek’s stunt that I got to ask for more resources without too much complaining about the budget. Although I’m completely sure that won’t last long.”

The mention of the government’s insistence on keeping the anomalies a secret made Stephen uncomfortable. It was an issue he had been avoiding intentionally when talking to Lester because, as surprising as it was, Stephen had come to really enjoy Lester’s company and he didn’t want to ruin their tentative friendship, but if he had learnt something from previous mistakes was that some things had to be said out loud.

“I still think the public should know about the anomalies,” he finally let out.

Lester leaned on his chair and looked at Stephen thoughtfully.

“And I still think it’s too complicated right now,” he finally replied. “Do we know why the anomalies appear? Are they ever going to stop? Can we prevent them from opening in a schoolyard, for example?”

“We still don’t know much, but...”

“We don’t know anything, Stephen,” Lester replied. “The public is going to want answers we don’t have and a reassurance we can’t provide... yet.”

Instead of storming out of the office, as he would have done once, Stephen took a moment to look straight at Lester and saw the worry in his eyes. They didn’t agree on this, but he could clearly see that Lester thought it was for the best.

“We can’t tell people that a T. rex could appear in the middle of Trafalgar Square and the government can’t do anything to prevent that and keep them safe,” Lester added. “Panic spreads faster than you would imagine, Stephen.”

Stephen shook his head lightly with sadness and sighed.

“Then we should learn more about the anomalies... as fast as we can,” Stephen eventually replied.

“I think that’s the plan, yes,” Lester said, his mouth showing just a hint of a smile.

“We should go back to that then,” Stephen replied, turning around to leave the office.

“Stephen,” Lester’s voice stopped him before he could reach the door.

“I never thanked you, after the whole Leek’s fiasco,” he added.

Stephen looked at him, confused.

“Thank you for calling us that day after Helen contacted you. Thank you for trusting me, it really made a difference.”

“I simply realised she was lying to me,” Stephen replied, the old feeling of sadness and regret washing over him again. “That she had been lying to me for a long time and I had been just too stupid to notice. I’m the one that should say how sorry I am I trusted her in the first place.”

“That woman is truly an excellent liar, Stephen,” Lester offered sympathetically. “There is nothing to be sorry about. In the end, you saved the day.”

“Big hero, I was,” Stephen said, bitterly.

“I wouldn’t use the word ‘hero’” Lester said, thoughtfully. “I would say ‘a very competent government worker’ would be more accurate.”

Stephen let out a short laugh and looked at him gratefully. Lester looked back at him, this time with a big, honest smile on his face.

Who would have thought that one day he was going to be comfortable enough to talk about all this with Lester? Furthermore, who would have thought that Lester’s open smile was going to make him feel warm inside, that he was going to crave to see it directed at him more often?

Life was full of surprises and some of them were quite nice, for a change.


	5. Chapter 5

As time went by, the ARC team grew even bigger, much to Lester’s dismay.

“I already warned you that the minister wasn’t going to allow the increase of our budget forever,” Lester complained to Stephen in one of their now usual after shift talks. “Cutter can’t keep recruiting the misfits he finds on the streets without consulting me, unless he wants to write their pay cheques himself, of course.”

“C’mon, Lester, Sarah is a great addition to the team,” Stephen replied with a smile. “She’s helping Nick with the anomaly predicting matrix and she also works very well in the field.”

“I’m sure Dr Page is a very valuable asset, but the problem of the ever-increasing budget persists despite of that,” Lester insisted, stubbornly. “And that’s just one the many things the Home Office isn’t happy about right now.”

“Connor’s arrest?” Stephen guessed.

He had missed the fun since he had been out of the city with Cutter and Ryan’s team, dealing with an anomaly on the countryside, but Jenny had told them about the creatures in the abandoned house and the annoying cop that had arrested Connor.

“Hasn’t that been dealt with? The anomaly is closed, and the copper has been told to stay away from us. Problem solved,” Stephen said.  
Lester simply sighed, looking dubious. “Maybe you’re right. It’s not exactly the worst problem we could have, anyway.”

“No, it’s not,” Stephen agreed.

Neither of them said it out loud, but Stephen was sure they both were thinking about Helen in that moment. She had been fortunately absent from their lives, no trace of her anywhere, but as wonderful as that was, Stephen was sure sooner or later they would be hearing from her again.

***

Unfortunately, Helen’s return happened way too soon.

The last anomaly alert had sent them to a crowded hospital, which had seemed like a nightmare at first, but in the end, the problem had been solved with only a little damage to the building and no injuries, aside from Becker’s pride.

When they got back to the ARC, still in a cheerful mood after a job well done, Stephen noticed something felt a bit off. And he wasn’t the only one.

“They should have checked our passes,” Becker said, frowning.

“Yeah, your men are getting slack,” Nick teased him.

“You go on ahead. I want to have a little word with security,” Becker told them. “I can’t let this go or Ryan will complain I went too soft on them while he was away.”

Ryan and a few of his men had been sent abroad on a mission their friends weren’t allowed to know anything about, not even how long it was going to take them, but they hoped they would all be back safe and sound very soon.

“Don’t be too harsh with them, Becker,” Stephen teased him as they walked into the ARC.

When they got to the atrium, though, their cheerful mood disappeared in an instant. Armed men, all of them copies of the man they had seen die in the Silurian, were pointing their guns at them from the handrails of the first floor, and among them, with a smug smile on her face, was Helen Cutter.

Stephen looked around, scanning the place looking for a way out, but they were surrounded and there was no way to run away from them. By his side, Nick sighed slowly, probably coming to the same conclusion. In front of them, Abby and Connor’s expression of dismay suddenly turned into confusion and shock, as they looked at something that was behind Stephen and Nick’s backs.

“It’s... it’s you,” Connor stuttered.

Stephen turned around, confused, only to come face to face with himself. Or at least with an exact copy of himself that was looking straight at him with a vacant expression on his face.

“Put Connor, Abby and Stephen with the others,” Helen said then.

And just like that, Stephen was pushed out of the room, leaving Nick behind with Helen and a small army of clones.

***

Stephen was relieved to see the others were all right and even more to see they were already working on an escape plan, but the horrified look on their faces when they had seen him walking in made him believe that they had already met his clone and that he hadn’t made a very good first impression.

They were still trying to come up with a way to play the audio that would hopefully incapacitate Helen’s clones when Becker came to their rescue. As the rest waited in the room, Connor and Stephen, quietly following Becker’s lead, went out and managed to reach the security system room.

As he and Becker dealt with two clone guards that tried to stop them, Connor managed to play the recording over the PA system, but their victory was short-lived because they had barely had time to go back to help the others when an explosion shook the building.

Fearing the worst, Stephen followed Connor and Becker as they went looking for Nick while the rest went outside to safety.

They didn’t know how many armed men they would find in their way or if they would still be dangerous, but they searched the place as carefully as they could, avoiding the fire that was spreading fast through the damaged building, determined to find Nick.

The debris and the smoke were making it difficult to see anything clearly, but finally Connor spotted Nick, barely conscious but fortunately alive and they helped him to stagger out of the building as fast as possible.

The moment they got outside, coughing uncontrollably as they tried to fill their lungs with fresh air, they were met by their worried friends and Stephen noticed Lester was protecting his mouth and nose from the smoke with a bright yellow silk handkerchief that matched his tie.

“Always so stylish, Lester,” he joked lamely, before another fit of coughing hit him.

Lester looked at him worriedly, ignoring the remark.

“Are you all right, Stephen?” he asked instead. “I’ve already called the emergency services, some ambulances should be already on their way, as well as the firefighters. The-“

“Cutter!”

Jenny’s yell stopped their conversation and Stephen turned around in time to see Nick running inside the building and disappearing into the smoke.

Stephen was gobsmacked. What the hell was Nick doing?

“Cutter!” Lester yelled as well, in vain.

“He’s gone back to help Helen,” Jenny told them, anguished.

“The idiot,” Lester muttered.

Stephen couldn’t agree more and still he knew what he had to do. He decided to do it before common sense would change his mind so he squeezed Jenny’s arm reassuringly and then ran after Nick.

“Stephen!”

He heard Lester calling his name before the smoke engulfed him again but refused to turn around. He had to find his friend.

***

The fire was getting worse, the smoke making it very difficult to see barely a few metres ahead of where Stephen was standing.

After searching for Nick blindly for a while, the sound of some familiar voices finally reached him. By the sound of it, Nick had found Helen, but the reunion was far from friendly.

Slowly, Stephen got closer to the voices, trying not to give himself away.

“The future is more important than either of us,” Helen was saying.

“You really know how to pick your moments,” Nick replied.

Not far away from where he was standing, the light of the flames let Stephen see the figure of Helen in the wrecked corridor, pointing a gun at Nick, who was standing right in front of her.

“If you’d seen what I’d seen, you’d understand,” Helen added, still oblivious of Stephen getting closer.

Walking carefully through the partially destroyed rooms that connected to the corridor, Stephen managed to get closer to Helen, who, being completely focussed on Nick, was oblivious of his presence barely a few metres to her left.

“I’m sorry, Nick. I wish there was another way.”

The sound of the pistol cocking made Stephen’s blood ran cold.

“Know what, Helen?” Nick said.

Stephen didn’t wait to hear what Nick was going to say to her, he threw himself with all his strength against a door that was barely hanging on by its hinges right beside Helen, making it fall on top of her.

The door hit her hard and she lost a grip on her pistol as she fell to the ground. Stephen didn’t waste a second and picked it immediately, but in the end, the rush wasn’t all that necessary since Helen was lying unconscious on the floor.

“Coming back for her was probably one of your most stupid ideas, Nick,” Stephen told him between coughs.

Nick simply looked at him, surprised and relieved. “You’re probably right.”

But he didn’t look contrite at all. Stephen shook his head, but didn’t add anything, he was sure that Nick was going to hear more about that from other people soon and there were more urgent matters to attend to, starting with getting out of the burning building as soon as possible.

Stephen was helping Nick to lift Helen’s unconscious body from the floor when an angry-looking Becker appeared gun in hand. He quickly assessed the situation and without a word, unceremoniously put Helen over his shoulder.

“Now, get the hell out of here!” he ordered with a no-bullshit glare.

As predicted, the moment they walked out carrying Helen with them, Jenny started telling Nick in detail how much of a terrible idea that had been and she wouldn’t allow him to say a word.

As the soldiers took away a barely-conscious Helen, Stephen had a moment to laugh at Nick’s astonished expression as Jenny lectured him before he suddenly found himself being subjected to the same scolding by no other than James Lester.

He was being told for a second time how he had put his life at risk in a ridiculous and reckless move that was totally unnecessary when fortunately Sarah took pity on him and stepped in.

“Oh, stop it, Lester,” she said. “If you aren’t going to do it, I will.”

And then she walked straight to Stephen with a big smile on her face and hugged him tightly. Stephen hugged her back, still finding it hard to believe that they all had managed to get out of that nightmare alive.

“I’m sorry we worried you all,” he said, looking at Lester over Sarah’s shoulder, smiling at him apologetically and Lester huffed lightly, still pretending to be annoyed, but he eventually gave up and smiled warmly back at him.

Stephen had been honest in his apology, but there was a part of him that was pleased to see that Lester cared deeply about him. It gave him hope, hope that maybe there could be more than just friendship between them.

Or maybe his mind was simply clouded by the smoke inhalation and he was thinking about doing something stupid that could get him fired. Only time would tell.


	6. Chapter 6

Soon the firefighters were there, working hard to stop the fire and Helen was handcuffed and on her way to a special facility with loads of guards.

Once the fire was under control, Becker and other soldiers went in briefly to check the state of the menagerie with Abby’s help. Meanwhile, Nick explained to the others what had happened inside and all he knew about Helen’s plans.

He also told them about the bomb and the death of Stephen’s clone. As disturbing as it was to know there was a clone that looked exactly like him, Stephen was sad to learn that he had died like that. Despite his programming, though, the clone had told Nick to save himself before detonating the bomb and had given him a chance to escape the blast.

“I don’t think Helen can control the clones as well as she would like to,” Nick said.

“It’s not as if she’s going to have time to keep improving her methods now,” Lester replied with a sneer. “I’m going to make sure there’s no way for her to escape this time.”

Stephen wanted to be as confident as Lester, but Helen had proved herself to be a tough adversary, intelligent and ruthless. Even if she was locked up, they were going to have to be careful because he was sure she wasn’t going to just sit down in a cell and play ball.

“The menagerie is secured,” Becker said, walking back to the group with Abby. “It doesn’t seem to be a lot of damage, fortunately.”

“It looks like the security measures we added to stop the creatures from escaping had helped to keep them safe,” Abby added, relieved.

“We’ll check the perimeter again and will take a look inside the ARC as soon as the firefighters give us the green light,” Becker said. “But there isn’t much else for you to do here right now, I suggest you go home to have some rest.”

It sounded like a good idea to Stephen and he was sure he wasn’t the only one feeling knackered after such a long day. Surely they would all be thankful for a shower and a few hours of sleep.

“It sounds like the reasonable course of action, Captain,” Lester agreed looking at the people gathered around. “We won’t be doing any good to anybody by simply standing here so let’s go home, everybody.”

As Becker went back to talk to his men, everybody started to walk towards their cars. Stephen saw Abby and Connor walking away with Sarah and surprisingly, or maybe not so much, Jenny offered Nick a ride home since his car was inside the building and with the firefighter’s trucks parked right outside there was no way to get it out, even if it hadn’t been damaged by the explosion or the fire. That reminded him of something.

“Isn’t your car inside too, Lester?” Stephen asked him.

“Yes, that’s correct, that’s why I’m calling a taxi, Stephen,” he replied nonchalantly, already taking out his phone.

“There’s no need, I can give you a lift home,” Stephen offered.

“That would be very nice, thank you,” Lester replied politely, after a short pause. “If that’s not an inconvenience for you, of course.”

Stephen laughed loudly, much to Lester’s confusion.

“It wouldn’t be the greatest inconvenience I’ve suffered today, wouldn’t it?” he explained with a smile. “Unless you’re wary about being alone with me right now. I swear I’m the real Stephen and not a clone.”

“Oh, I know you’re the real Stephen,” Lester replied, looking at him closely. “I don’t know how the clone fooled me before, it was fairly evident it wasn’t you, but I was probably distracted by the gun being pointed in my face.”

Stephen’s smile faded immediately, and he wondered what thoughts had gone through Lester’s mind when that had happened, if he had thought that he had betrayed him, that he had been working with Helen all along.

They walked towards Stephen’s car in silence and when they finally reached it, Stephen realised that he still hadn’t asked an important question.

“How do you know then?” he said, turning to stand right in front of Lester. “That it’s me and not a clone, I mean.”

Lester gazed intently at him for a moment, as if pondering his next words and then he raised his arm and brushed his fingers lightly against Stephen’s temple. It was a brief touch, so fast it was a blink-and-you-miss-it thing, but the feeling remained quite longer.

“The scar from your encounter with the future predator,” Lester explained, eyes still locked with Stephen’s. “The stitches have healed nicely, but you can still see it. I should have noticed the clone didn’t have it.”

That was true, Stephen thought, but it was just a small scar, mostly hidden by his hair by then. He had noticed Lester staring at it sometimes. Actually, he had noticed Lester staring at him very often lately, flicking a glance to his lips every now and then while they were talking.

Stephen was mostly sure that Lester would like to be more than a friend to him, but he was worried about messing things up if in the end he was wrong. Lester was his boss after all. But some days reminded you that life could be short and that sometimes it was worth it to risk it all.

Stephen was just opening his mouth to boldly ask Lester to go out for a drink with him when Lester’s phone rang, ruining the moment, or saving him from a big embarrassment, he couldn’t be sure.

Lester’s annoyed expression at the sudden interruption gave him hope, though. He took the offending phone out and as soon as he saw the name on the screen he frowned.

“It’s the minister,” he said with a grimace and then took a deep breath before answering the call.

The conversation was brief and didn’t look pleasant and by the end of it Stephen suspected that Lester’s bad day wasn’t over yet.

“That petulant clown wants me to report to him immediately on what’s happened, in person,” Lester explained, confirming Stephen’s hunch. “I’ll go home for a change of clothes, at least.”

Stephen cursed internally. Whatever had been about to happen between them, that phone call had really ruined his chances.

“Let’s go then,” Stephen simply said, opening the car door.

Lester gave him his home address, an apartment building in a fancy neighbourhood in the centre, and they took off immediately.

Lester spent the rest of the ride on the phone, talking to Jenny and then Becker, trying to get as many facts straight as possible before meeting the minister. Stephen drove in silence, glancing at Lester occasionally. The man was griping the phone so hard that his knuckles were white and the frown lines on his forehead were even more noticeable than usual.

“Thank you very much, Stephen,” Lester said absently when they got to the address, barely looking back at him as he started to get out of the car.

“Lester!” Stephen called before he could close the door.

Lester turned around, questioningly, and Stephen realised he didn’t really know what he had intended to say when he had called his name.

“I could give you a lift back to the ARC tomorrow morning,” he finally decided to say. “Your place is on my way to work anyway.”

That wasn’t true by any standard and Lester probably knew it, but that wasn’t really relevant.

Lester stared at him, raising an eyebrow.

“That would be very nice, actually,” he answered, eventually. “Let’s say 7.30?”

“I’ll be here,” Stephen said.

And he intended to keep his promise diligently.

***

Stephen was, in fact, outside Lester’s apartment building at 7.15am the next morning.

The night before he had eventually managed to fall asleep, but when the alarm woke him up at 6am after a fitful sleep, he hadn’t felt very refreshed.

Not wanting to stay at home alone with his thoughts, which went back again and again to how Helen had tried to kill Nick, and everybody in the ARC, for that matter, Stephen decided take a quick shower and head to Lester’s flat right away.

He wasn’t sure what he was expecting of that day, he didn’t even know if they were going to be able to get to work inside the ARC, but he was definitely looking forward to seeing Lester again.

He was sipping at a rather strong coffee he had bought on his way, trying to wake himself up completely, when something caught his attention. A man wearing some navy blue overralls and a cap was sneaking in the building, carrying a tool box. The man, who had entered the place without ringing any bell at the doorway, put something on the floor that stopped the door from closing completely behind him and then disappeared inside the building.

Stephen couldn’t see clearly his face because of the cap, but his figure was way too familiar. He was sure it was one of Helen’s clones and that could only mean he had come here looking for Lester.

Stephen was out of the car and running towards the door in an instant. Stephen hadn’t seen any gun in the clone’s hands, but he could easily be hiding one in the box so he walked into the building carefully trying to avoid making any noise.

Stephen walked up to the first floor and he finally found him. The man was crouched next to the door of one of the apartments and was opening the toolbox, looking for something. Stephen decided not to give him a chance to get a weapon and ran towards him, but the noise of his steps alerted the man, his hand already grabbing something from inside the box.

Stephen barged into him before he could turn around completely and they both rolled on the floor, but instead of the furious fight he was expecting, Stephen heard the other man yell for help.

Now that he had lost the cap, Stephen could see his face clearly and he realised that he was not one of Helen’s clones and that in the tool box that had been knocked over in the scuffle, there were, in fact, just some tools.

“Oh my god, I’m so sorry...” Stephen said, raising his hands in a hopefully placating way.

“Are you insane?” the man yelled at him. “What’s your problem, man? I’m calling the police!”

The door of the flat on the opposite side opened and Lester walked out, staring wide-eyed at the scene before his eyes. Embarrassed, Stephen realised that the screaming was going to start attracting the attention of other neighbours as well and that soon there was going to be a full audience there.

“I’m sorry, I just-“ Stephen said, turning to Lester as the man kept screaming furiously at him. “I thought it was one of Helen’s men,” he tried to explain, feeling terribly stupid.

“I’ll take care of this. Wait there, please,” Lester told him, signalling him to get inside his flat.

Trusting Lester to deal with the situation much better than he could, Stephen did as told and walked into Lester’s apartment, closing the door behind him.

***

Stephen was still chastising himself for such a foolish mistake when Lester came back in.

The repairman’s yelling had stopped almost immediately once Stephen had got out of the way and even though he hadn’t been able to hear clearly most of the conversation they had been having outside, Lester’s satisfied expression as he walked in let him know that the problem had been solved successfully.

“Everything is fine now, I’ve just explained to that gentleman that you mistakenly thought he was a thief, that you aren’t a crazy or dangerous person at all,” Lester told him, looking even slightly amused. “And he has graciously agreed not to press any charges against you, fortunately. Of course, he’s going to receive a very generous bonus when he finishes his work, for all the inconveniences, but still, it’s very kind of him to let this go.”

“I’m so terribly sorry,” Stephen repeated, mortified. “I thought you were in danger...”

“And you ran in to save me. My knight in shining armour...”

Those words could have been patronising and humiliating, but the way Lester was looking at him as he said them made him feel something completely different.

“I shouldn’t have leapt to the conclusion that he was a clone,” Stephen added. “I didn’t have much sleep last night, that’s the best excuse I can offer right now, even if it’s not much.”

Lester was still looking intently at him, seemingly deep in thought. He was still half-dressed, Stephen finally noticed, wearing just a light blue shirt and dark trousers, and Stephen decided he liked that informal look on him very much, no matter how expensive his suits and ties surely were.

“Well, to be honest,” Lester said lowly, ”after the awfully long meeting with the minister yesterday, I have barely had three hours of sleep so I want you to know that I’m going to blame exhaustion for this too.”

“For what?”

Stephen had barely uttered those words when Lester stepped forward and kissed him.

‘Oh’ was the only thought Stephen’s brain managed to form before he started kissing him back.

The kiss quickly went from soft and slow to deep and intense and it felt fucking great. First his lips moved slowly, almost hesitantly, but a tentative lick was enough to part Lester’s lips and then things got heated as tongues started exploring each other.

Stephen felt Lester grasping at his t-shirt and he moaned deeply into the kiss as he slid his fingers into Lester’s hair. Tongues battled for control, neither of them the kind of man to give up easily, but then Stephen bit on Lester’s lower lip and he opened his mouth wider, allowing Stephen to deepen the kiss.

The victory made Stephen let out a satisfied moan, but then the other man’s hands finally found the way to slip under his t-shirt and Stephen felt nails digging into his back, just lightly, but enough to send a shiver through his whole body. Lester knew how to play dirty, he thought as he kept kissing him thoroughly, but Stephen liked that game very much.

Sadly, there was a moment, which felt way too soon, when they had to reluctantly break apart for air.

They simply stared at each other for a while, breathing hard, without saying a word.

A thoroughly kissed Lester was a hot sight, Stephen thought, appraisingly. The usually composed man now looked ruffled, hair completely dishevelled and lust showing in his eyes as he still tried to catch his breath. ‘And I have done that,’ Stephen thought, a mixed feeling of pride and arousal filling him.

Stephen leaned down to kiss him again, but Lester’s hand on his chest stopped him before he could reach the other man’s lips.

Stephen heart sank, disappointment hitting him right away. Maybe Lester already regretted the kiss, maybe he had misread the signs and now he was going to be in the receiving end of the ‘This has been a mistake’ speech. The smirk that showed on Lester’s face soon soothed his fears, though.

“I just wanted to remind you that we’re supposed to be at the ARC soon,” Lester said, playfully.

“C’mon, I’m sure it won’t be a problem if we arrive five minutes late,” Stephen pleaded as he leaned down again and slowly brushed his lips against Lester’s, his hands finding the way to the other man’s hips.

Lester didn’t try to stop him this time and Stephen nibbled on his lower lip gently for a few moments before he straightened up again to look at Lester.

“Well, five minutes isn’t going to make a big difference, really,” Lester agreed, his hands already wandering up to Stephen’s neck. “But pouting isn’t going to make you get away with everything, Hart.”

“I wasn’t pouting,” Stephen lied shamelessly.

“Oh, it certainly looked like pouting to me.”

“I’m a grown-up man, I don’t pout, but maybe we should talk about that some other time,” Stephen said, putting an end to the discussion by kissing him roughly.

Lester hummed approvingly and there was no more conversation for a while since tongues and lips were busy with other matters.

Much later, Lester’s expensive shirt had lost a button or two and Stephen’s t-shirt had been unceremoniously tossed on the floor and when they eventually got to the ARC that morning, they were late by way more than half an hour, but neither of them regretted it at all.

END


End file.
